Cedric’s eyes snapped wide open.
The moment the power of the sacred word reached him, his heart skipped a beat.
But then—
“……”
Something faintly radiated from Kori’s body.
Light.
Not too bright, not overwhelmingly large.
Just a faint halo surrounding him, shimmering like a heat haze.
Strange, beautiful—
Yet fragile.
So small and weak that Cedric, who had been bracing himself, couldn’t help but scoff.
“……”
Still, he didn’t know.
Cedric had never once encountered a being he couldn’t understand, so he held his breath, waiting for something extraordinary to burst forth from Kori.
But nothing changed.
Only that soft glow of power lingered.
That was all.
“Ha……”
Cedric laughed.
The dark magic he wielded aimed far beyond mere sorcery.
Before the immense flow of power that could tear open the gates between this world and the outer cosmos, this tiny, odd little half-orc’s tricks were utterly insignificant.
Now he understood.
Kori—the pest of a half-orc—had simply lost his mind.
“Ha ha ha ha ha……”
Cedric’s shoulders shook with laughter.
He felt foolish for having been so tense.
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha……”
Bursting into loud laughter, Cedric pointed a finger at Kori.
Though he usually considered such blatant displays of emotion beneath him, this time he couldn’t hold back.
Like a third-rate villain, he shook his head while laughing.
“Is that all? This so-called ‘great heart’ of yours—is this it?”
A smirk tugged at his lips.
“Just die right here.”
As he raised his hand, cloaked in dark magic, to crush Kori’s head—
The darkness around Cedric scattered.
The gathered magic meant to harm Kori faded.
Light.
There was light somewhere.
Just as night retreats when the sun rises, Cedric’s dark magic could no longer hold its ground and began to vanish.
Above.
Cedric realized the source of the light was hovering over his head.
He looked up.
A small orb of light floated above him.
It was tiny and fragile, like a little bird.
So faint it seemed it would scatter at a mere wave of a hand.
“This pathetic thing……”
Cedric unleashed his dark magic.
The light flickered like a candle in the wind.
But it didn’t go out.
Instead, it grew, slowly swelling larger than before.
The light source began to rise toward the sky.
Though still too small to block the dark core pounding against the heavens—
Even Cedric could see it was clearly growing.
In a sudden fit of rage, Cedric struck Kori.
Kori collapsed with a scream.
“I’ll wipe out that worthless thing right now.”
Dark magic wrapped around Kori’s body, swallowing him in complete darkness.
Not a single ray of light could escape this suffocating blackness.
Kori writhed, but Cedric tightened his grip, squeezing the half-orc’s entire body.
That should do it.
That tiny, strange light would lose its strength and fade away.
But—
Cedric noticed the light shining down was growing stronger.
He stared blankly upward.
He had subdued Kori.
The half-orc was trapped, powerless in the darkness.
So why was that light growing larger?
What was that light?
And its color—
Slowly, ever so slowly, the light expanded.
As Cedric stared into it, realization dawned.
It wasn’t growing on its own.
That was impossible.
Rather…
Laurent was pounding against the dark veil Cedric had conjured.
His sword, twisted by the black magic, was the same color as the barrier Cedric had created.
It wouldn’t budge.
No matter how hard he struck, it wouldn’t break.
The black core rising into the sky blocked the sun, casting a grotesque shadow over the land, tearing open a gateway to the outer cosmos.
He could feel the void beyond slowly seeping in.
He had to stop it.
With desperate resolve, Laurent swung his sword at the barrier—and at Cedric.
But he couldn’t reach him.
He gritted his teeth.
Memories he thought he’d abandoned flashed through his mind.
The horrific scene of France came back.
Memories he wanted to forget but never could rippled over the black veil.
To shatter it, Laurent swung again and again.
The things he wished to undo formed a solid wall before him.
He was powerless.
Too weak to dispel this darkness.
Eventually, Laurent dropped his sword.
The endless blackness of the veil filled his vision.
Is this the end?
Would the world close its curtain, leaving him a tragic figure?
“No.”
Suddenly, a voice spoke.
No, not words—but something meaningful touched his heart.
Laurent lifted his eyes.
“Ah……”
The veil remained strong.
No matter how much he struck, it wouldn’t fall.
But beyond the impenetrable darkness, something shone.
Light.
It was rising beyond the darkness.
Light.
The moment Laurent saw it, he thought of someone.
He had reached out, wanting to bask in that light, but was dragged down into darkness by black hands.
Yet the light never vanished—it waited for him, always.
To Laurent, light was like that.
No matter how deep the darkness, even a single ray could overcome it.
That light—
Without thinking, Laurent reached out.
A faint glow shimmered from his body, then bloomed from his fingertips, reaching toward the light in the sky.
Jang Young-hak, leader of the Martial Alliance, gasped for breath.
Drawn by an inexplicable pull, he had come to the Western Territories.
To stop the Star of Ruin, shining grotesquely in the sky, he gathered warriors and crossed a continent where even language was foreign, fighting enemies.
Demonic beings he had never seen before were corrupting the world.
Fortunately, thanks to a hero from the West with black hair and black eyes, they had gained the upper hand.
They thought they had stopped the Star of Ruin.
But evil was now trying to destroy the world itself.
The human realm was sinking into chaos.
Would they be unable to resist and simply perish?
Would they be crushed like ants beneath the beings pouring down from beyond the heavens?
Then, at a certain moment—
Beyond the towering black veil, something shone.
Light.
Pure white light rising into the sky.
Though the black core blocked the sun and the land was shrouded in darkness unleashed by the demons, obscuring everything beyond—
Still, there was a single ray of light.
“‘The Way is achieved by walking it’…”
Jang Young-hak smiled.
Born an orphan, raised by shamans, he had lived his life wielding a sword.
In this merciless martial world, tangled with debts and grudges like a spider’s web, what had he truly sought with this blade?
The answer was there.
That light.
Jang Young-hak reached out.
A cluster of light flowed from his body, fluttering upward toward the sky.
Jaime sat down heavily, lifting his eyes.
His body was already battered and broken.
His reckless fighting style had left much of his body failing.
He probably wouldn’t live much longer.
But he still had a mission.
Though his body was frail and worn, his heart pounding fiercely, he pressed forward toward the enemy.
Anger.
Hatred.
That was his source.
“Sir Jaime, now is the time……”
A knight grabbed his arm, but Jaime shook his head.
“Go.”
“There’s nothing more we can do, Sir Jaime.”
A massive veil covered the world.
Something was happening beyond it.
They would likely lose.
But Jaime refused to give up. Flames flickered in his eyes.
“You’ll die like this.”
“Gladly.”
Jaime raised his sword and stepped forward.
“I’ll gladly die.”
The conviction in his voice made the knights who followed him dare not stop him.
“I will go.”
“Sir Jaime……”
Jaime staggered forward.
The scene etched in his eyes that day would never fade.
As if branded onto his retina, he never forgot that rage.
Orcs.
And dark magic.
Even if he broke on the way, some people in this world simply cannot stop moving forward.
But his body could no longer move.
Eventually, Jaime collapsed.
The knights supported him.
“Sir Jaime!”
“Damn it……”
Jaime gritted his teeth, blood trickling from his mouth.
With bloodshot eyes, he glared at the core floating in the sky and the black veil spread beneath it.
Then, suddenly—
Something was rising beyond.
Not very large.
Maybe the size of a rock.
No, now it was about the size of a house.
Light.
Seeing that light, Jaime’s strength drained away.
“W-what is that?”
“What is that?”
“Sir Jaime?”
Jaime let out a bitter laugh.
“Retreat. Retreat……”
“Huh?”
“Really, something like that……”
Then he stopped laughing.
His face went blank as he quietly gazed up at the light.
And reached out his hand.
Seeing that gesture, the knights following behind instinctively raised their hands as well.
As if on command, they all pointed toward the light in unison.
A shimmering glow flickered around their hands before soaring upward into the sky.
“Is that really what happened?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Elizabeta had just heard a brief account from a woman named Jane.
The little mage who had knocked her unconscious was actually an ally who had deceived Cedric.
Though they had escaped being sacrificed through magic, they wouldn’t have survived inside Zbeta on their own.
Jane then gestured behind her.
“This man helped us.”
He was dressed as an imperial knight.
“His name is Santos. He, too, was freed from dark magic thanks to Kori.”
Santos smiled faintly.
“Cedric assigned me as Kori’s squire, but it was Kori who truly saved me from the brainwashing of dark magic. I owe him my life.”
Elizabeta grasped the situation roughly.
But the problem was far from resolved.
What had become of Cedric? How was the war progressing?
Suddenly, a massive shadow fell over them.
Everyone looked up.
The sun was being obscured, an eclipse unfolding as a black cylindrical veil spread across the sky, darkening their vision.
“Ah…”
It was despair.
Would the Anti-Empire Alliance ultimately be defeated by Cedric?
But then—
A light began to rise.
Santos spoke.
“That light… it must be Kori.”
“Kori…”
Elizabeta didn’t know much about Kori—only that he was a small half-orc who followed Yuri.
Santos continued.
“He admired a man named Yuri Briol. But I know that Kori himself is a radiant being, just like Yuri Briol.”
Everyone raised their heads to look at the light above.
It grew larger and larger.
The world was no longer swallowed by darkness.
Without realizing it, Elizabeta reached out her hand.
Jane did the same.
Santos, and then everyone else, stretched their hands toward the light.
“Did you know from the beginning?”
“I suspected something like this might happen.”
Cruar stood with Sidhurst, gazing at the distant horizon.
They could feel the world’s fate twisting and turning.
What ending awaited at the end of this path, no one knew.
But—
As the darkness that covered the sun was driven away,
A single ray of light began to ascend.
Watching this wondrous sight, Sidhurst stroked his beard.
“Now I understand what you meant back then, Cruar.”
“What do you mean?”
“This world truly is full of wonders.”
“Late to realize it, old man.”
Cruar smiled.
The faint light, barely perceptible to the eye before, had now grown so vast that the two men standing beyond the horizon could see it clearly as it rose into the sky.
Slowly, it moved toward the black core hanging above.
It was still not enough.
Far from it.
But that didn’t mean it would always be insufficient.
“By doing this, we fulfill our role, Sidhurst.”
“It’s an honor.”
Sidhurst laughed heartily.
He dropped the staff in his hand and raised his wrinkled hand toward the sky.
Cruar did the same.
She said,
“We are all part of that wonder.”
The light swelled even larger.
A dark mage had swallowed the empire and now sought to destroy the world.
Meanwhile, the army led by Crown Prince Yuri Briol advanced northward toward the empire.
Everyone on the continent clasped their hands in prayer, wishing for victory.
From their own places, all hoped for the Anti-Empire Alliance’s triumph.
No news had come yet.
Only from the distant horizon did an unknown energy rise, signaling that a great battle was underway.
Then, one day—
Darkness fell over the world.
“Uh…?”
Citizens walking the streets stopped and looked up at the sky.
Fear gripped their hearts.
In the Holy Kingdom, in Bursen,
In Liberta, in the Confederation of Small States,
And in Briol.
People and animals alike—
All who lived on the continent gazed upward at that moment.
The sun was being swallowed.
Darkness spread, and beyond it, something was trying to cross over.
It was a sign of destruction.
The world was on the brink of collapse.
Everyone instinctively sensed what was happening.
“Ah…”
Some collapsed in terror.
Others clutched their loved ones tightly.
Amid the despair where fear consumed their hearts,
Suddenly, a light began to rise.
At first, it was small.
So faint and tiny that no one could tell what it was.
Like a firefly’s glow slowly emerging in the distant sky.
It grew steadily.
From the size of a grain of sand to a fingernail, then a pebble.
Soon, it pierced the darkness, ascending until it was the size of a fist.
At that moment,
Someone, as if entranced, raised their hand.
They didn’t know why.
Something had touched their heart, and they simply responded.
Then another.
And another.
Hands rose.
Thud.
Thud.
The world seemed to tremble.
As if the sky itself was warping.
But the light steadily advanced toward the dark core that had swallowed the sun.
Hands rose.
Every human standing on the continent reached out toward that light.
Ena clutched the hem of Yekaterina’s dress, her face filled with fear.
“Lady Yekaterina, what on earth is happening…?”
The two stood on the terrace, looking up at the sky.
A blackened sky.
And a light.
Something was unfolding.
“Look. Everyone’s raising their hands.”
Ena pointed outside the palace.
All the citizens had poured into the streets, reaching out toward the light in the sky.
It was as if the crowd was lending their strength to that light.
Yekaterina lifted her gaze again.
The light moved unwaveringly toward the darkness.
It resembled someone.
Yekaterina smiled.
By now, even those inside the palace were looking up.
No one knew exactly what was happening.
But everyone raised their hands toward the light, guided by their hearts.
It was huge now.
So immense that it seemed ready to burn away all the darkness hanging in the sky.
“Ena.”
“Yes?”
“Shall we join them?”
“Yes!”
Yekaterina and Ena stretched out their hands side by side.
Yuri Briol.
He—
Reached out his hand toward the light.